St. LOUIS – Joni Pitkanen often frustrated Ken Hitchcock when he coached the Flyers.
Pitkanen was touted to be a fleet-footed, gifted offensive-defenseman, who could carry the puck up the ice and create offense. The Flyers made an 11th hour deal at the 2002 NHL Draft with Tampa Bay to get the Bolts top pick (fourth overall) which they used to select Pitkanen.
Thing was, Pitkanen had fluid skills but lacked the mental acumen to judge the play ahead of him or how to use his forwards to create offense. He had speed but Pitkanen’s vision was such that Hitch could only play him at left defense.
His development took longer than expected and he wasn’t as complete a player during the time Hitchcock coached him in Philadelphia starting at age 19.
The Flyers wanted more sooner – not later – and Pitkanen was eventually traded to Edmonton at age 24.
“Our guy was great early,” Hitchcock said of Pitkanen. “Great legs, average vision.”
Hitchcock, now coaching the St. Louis Blues, looks at Flyers rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere at age 22 and thinks he might be the complete package.
Pitkanen came to the NHL straight from Finland whereas Ghost has been groomed at Union College and with the Phantoms.
“He’s like a lot of these other young guys,” Hitchcock said, referring to current NHL defensemen such as Aaron Ekblad, Erik Karlsson, John Klingberg et al. “They’ve got no fear of making plays. They’ve got no fear of the position. I think in years past you used to think, ‘Well, a guy’s got to be 26, 27 before he can be a regular player.’
“Now it’s the other way around we’ve got defensemen who are 22, 23 years old that can play in the league. It just seems the coaching at college and junior level is way more advanced.
“There’s way more professional people coaching down there now. It’s not a growing spot for coaches there. There’s ex-NHL players, ex-American League coaches, ex-pros down there coaching.”
Hitchcock feels that Gostisbehere’s college training, under Union coach Rick Bennett, prepared him well to make a smooth transition from college to the professional level. Thursday marked Ghost’s 13th game with the Flyers.
Long a believer in having an NHL roster of veteran players (see 2003-04 Flyers) over younger, emerging ones, Hitchcock’s 22-year-old Finnish rookie defenseman Petteri Lindbohm played in his second NHL game Thursday against the Flyers.
Hitch has changed the way he thinks about younger players.
“These kids are the benefactors of it,” Hitchcock said. “They get schooling at a very advanced stage early in their lives and you see the production of it in the NHL. Man, there’s a lot of NHL defensemen that don’t look like they need much more time to be elite players.
“He’s [Gostisbehere] in the mix with a bunch of other guys where it looks like he can contribute and help you. I think also the game has changed. You used to play the third pair as a physical pair and even secondary shutdown.
“Those times are gone now. Your third pair has to advance the puck as quick as your first pair. The whole game has changed.”